It’s been much longer than I originally planned for this update. Life threw a lot at me over the past few months. However, this project is complete! It’s been complete since roughly mid September. Read on to be brought up to speed.
During July I thought about a new name. I came up with CABB, for Car Audio Boom Box, which is much better than CSBB or anything else I came up with. So CABB it is. Hence the post title change.
Also during July I stewed over the auxiliary input which I decided needed to be Bluetooth rather than iPhone 30 pin. Many of the Bluetooth to RCA adapters require you to push a button to pair a new device. I could not have that since the Bluetooth unit would be enclosed inside CABB. In August I found a Belkin unit (F8Z492TTP) that would pair up to 8 devices, all without having to press any buttons. It cost $22.18 and from Amazon.
One common complain about the Belkin adapter was its short range. But a simple solution was to open it and remove the weight. I did so and the range is roughly 35 ft. The other thing I had to do was power it. It has a 110v AC to 5V DC transformer to power it. I snipped the transformer off and wired it to the PSU 5V leads.
With all the parts ready, I drilled a hole in each internal baffle to pass the speaker wires through, then assembled the back. I sealed the whole thing with caulk. I then applied some wood putty to a few external seams that didn’t quite turn out perfect, and sanded the entire exterior so it has a nice smooth finish. Next it was time for primer. I used a spray primer, which took several coats.
I test fitted all the parts.
I then applied the truck bed liner. I found the spray liner did not work very well at all. It applied much too thin. I bought a small can of Dupont roll on liner from the auto parts store, which was a non planned $20, but well worth it. After several coats to build the thickness up to desired level, I had a completed enclosure. CABB was almost alive!
Now I was ready to install the components. The first thing I did is wire and mount the crossovers for the JBL GTO 605-C component speakers. I cut and fed a speaker wire through each of the holes in the internal baffles then sealed the holes with caulk. I then connected each audio in (speaker) lead, tweeter lead, and woofer lead to the crossover and mounted it about 1/3 of the way from the bottom on the internal baffle. I filled each speaker compartment about 3/4 full of polyfill. I did all this working from the woofer cutout. I then ran the tweeter lead through the tweeter hole and the woofer lead through the woofer hole, connected them to the speakers and mounted them (tweeter first so I could get to the screw plate on the back of the tweeter). Finally I mounted the woofer grills.
That’s enough for this post. I will post the final entry (part 3), soon.